Judge Overturns Ban on Film

AP

Published: September 11, 1988

PENSACOLA, Fla., Sept. 10—
About 50 people attended the opening of the film ''The Last Temptation of Christ'' here on Friday after a Federal district judge blocked a county ordinance banning theaters from showing it.

The ordinance, passed Thursday after opponents of the film told the County Commissioners that it was sacrilegious, called for a maximum penalty of up to a $500 fine and 60 days in jail for showing the film.

The judge, Roger Vinson, issued a preliminary injunction Friday to stop enforcement of the ordinance, saying that it was unconstitutional and that ''red flags should run up'' whenever government tried to violate the rights of citizens.

About a dozen pickets were at the Plaza III Theaters for the movie's debut, but there was no violence.

In their complaint against the ordinance, the movie's director, Martin Scorcese, and Plitt Theaters Inc. said Escambia County was the first local government to ban the film outright, although others have passed resolutions opposing it.

The County Commissioners passed the ordinance 4 to 1 on the advice of the County Attorney, William Buztrey, after Christian fundamentalists and a group calling itself Citizens Against Pornography asked for the ban.

Opponents objected to the film's humanizing of Christ, particularly a scene of a sexual fantasy involving Mary Magdalene.

In arguing against the injunction, Mr. Buztrey contended that the film was pornographic and patently offensive to the majority of citizens in the county.

But Judge Vinson listened to a tape recording of the emergency meeting and said he heard no arguments concerning either obscenity or violence. The only argument made by commissioners or citizens who spoke at the meeting was that the film was sacreligious.